Bitemarks
by runswithskizors
Summary: Roxas isn't even a week old and he's already the key to an entire underground civilization's survival. When he turns 17 he'll have to make the choice. To stay human, or...not? AkuRoku, Zemyx, Cleon, Soriku
1. Prologue

_Just the prologue. I was listening to Little Wonders last night at 2 am and this struck me._

_**Disclaimer: **I think you get the point._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

He was holding the tiny, sleeping infant in his arms, cradling the soft bundle against his chest, marveling at how his small hands were clutching so tightly to his shirt, as if he already depended on him. The overwhelming urge to protect this little person washing over him in waves of powerful conviction which only grew stronger as he was watching the chubby, innocent face squint in his dreams. It was so surreal, holding this complete blank slate in his arms, it truly was a miracle.

"He's your responsibility now, Axel," DiZ's low, commanding voice informs him.

"Wait, you're not giving me a _baby_, are you," he asks, emerald eyes suddenly wide with shock and fear, he doesn't know the first _thing_ about how to actually care for one of these things much less how he would raise it.

Aerith laughs lightly, a light shinning in her green eyes, "Of course not, Axel. Cloud and I will be his legal guardians, but you have a much more important roll."

"This is the key," DiZ says, walking forward and pushing a strand of blonde hair out of the baby's face, "he is what our entire cause is resting on. It's all up to him, but only once he becomes of age. I am fairly certain that Xemnas will somehow get his hands on this bit of information and do everything in his power to either persuade him to join their cause...or kill him."

A rush of adrenaline flows through Axel at these words and he reflexively clutches the child tighter. "Kill...?"

"Well, of course they would much prefer him alive," Aerith states offhandedly, "but if worst comes to worst, they'll see no need in keeping him around. However, we would love to have him alive as well, so it would be beneficial if you could prevent any accidents that may happen."

"So...basically the kid has a bounty on his head already and I have to keep him alive," Axel restates, staring past DiZ and Aerith, who were both dimly illuminated by the street lamp, the darkness of early morning seeping through the scenery behind them.

"That's basically it," DiZ says, "he is the key to our survival, so make sure _he _survives."

"So I'll be fighting pretty much everyone working for Xemnas for the next 17 years?" Axel asks, still not focusing on anything in particular, feeling the baby's chest rise and fall with his small breaths.

"And protecting him from himself," Aerith adds, the look of a worried mother on her face, "I can tell he's going to be an accident waiting to happen. Not even a week old and look how much trouble he's wriggled himself in to already."

"It's not his fault," Axel states grimly, finally focusing on her amused face, completely killing any joking mood she had tried to establish. His emerald gaze slowly lowers to the infant in his arms, "Poor kid. Already got people out to kill you."

"So every mission you will receive from this moment on comes second to his safety," DiZ informs the pyro, "eating comes second. Breathing comes second. _Thinking_ comes second."

"So I have to give up any free time to this little _thing_," Axel complains, suddenly realizing the weight of his assignment and not liking how much work this sounded like. Sure, cute kid, but damn was this going to be a pain in the ass!

"He is your first priority, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

The child in his arms wiggles around a little bit before opening his sleepy eyes to stare up at Axel. The red head finds himself staring in to big, shockingly bright blue eyes. He could see their intelligence, their kindness, everything this little baby was going to grow up to be, he could see it all within those crystal blue eyes. They blink at him several times before he reaches up a pudgy hand towards Axel's face.

The pyro bends his head down lower to the infant until his little fingers finally found purchase on his cheek, running down to his jaw, the baby's mouth open in a little o shape, his eyes wide with discovery. He trails his fingers up until they reached Axel's lips, sticking one of them in his mouth. Shocked, the red head gently pulls the infant's hand away from his face. With both hands, the blonde baby reaches up and grabs one of his fingers and held on securely. Curious, Axel let the baby have his hand for now. He brings Axel's finger to his lips, almost like he was placing a tender kiss on it, before sticking it in his mouth and sucking on it like a pacifier.

Wide blue eyes were staring into bright green ones.

The baby pulls the red head's finger out of his mouth and yawns as wide as his little mouth would allow before snuggling back in to his blankets and falling fast asleep.

Axel felt like his world had changed.

"From now on," DiZ states, watching the pyro's focused gaze on the infant, "Roxas is your responsibility."

"Roxas."


	2. Aerith Makes a Bad Mom

_And the story begins! I'm excited for how excellently this seems to be fitting together in my mind. _

_**Disclaimer:** If you don't know what i'm supposed to say here, you should look that word up in the dictionary. _

* * *

"Roxas, hurry up or you're going to be late!"

_Oh shit_, I mentally curse my alarm clock on my bedside table, the red numbers glaring the time at me-8:15. I have another 15 minutes before I have to be sitting in my homeroom class, waiting for the day to start, and I wasn't even dressed! Not to mention I have to walk to school every day, which, if I take my time, is usually a 20-30 minute walk.

Standing there in my bathroom in my boxers, I quickly scrub my teeth clean, slap some deodorant on me, wash my face with that uncomfortable blast of cold water, since it usually takes a minute for the hot water to travel its way up to my bathroom, but like I had a minute to spare. I bolt into my bedroom, hop around while trying to put my jeans on and slip my shirt over my head. With that accomplished, I slip on my jacket and zip it up, the X dangling just over the hollow in my throat.

I run in to the bathroom one last time, glancing at my hair. I raise my hands to my head, thinking about attempting to do something with the sideswept mess, but just sigh and put my hands down. There's never any use trying to battle with it, it's a monster with a mind of its own.

Running downstairs, I throw my back pack over my shoulder, grabbing my history report and shove it carelessly in to the outer pocket. I slip my shoes on and throw one last look to my "mother".

Aerith was sitting at the kitchen table, newspaper in hand and a cup of coffee steaming on the table in front of her. She had taken care of me for as long as I can remember, since I was a baby. She's my brother's best friend. Cloud and Aerith raised me like I was their child, acting just as any real parent would. My parents were killed in a car accident when I was a week old and Cloud was 10, leaving him alone with me. That was 17 years ago, but Aerith was 18 and our shining angel, our mother.

But, in all honesty, not a very nice one. For example, watch this.

"Hey, mom?"

"Yeah honey?"

"Could you give me a ride to school," I ask innocently, "I don't want to miss homeroom today, the teacher's giving us an invaluable study guide for our upcoming midterms today."

She looks up from her newspaper, a sweet smile on her face, "Well, maybe you should've thought about that before pressing your snooze button that 4th time."

See what I mean? She's awful to me. But I love her.

I scowl at her and make my way out the front door, shouting back to her, "It was only 3 times!"

"Keep telling yourself that, sweetie," she calls out to me and I slam the front door closed.

I take off running down the street, practically sprinting, unzipping my jacket and reveling in the rush of cold air that my quickly over heating body needed, feeling the X clank against my belt. God, I was out of shape. I kept running until I finally hit the sidewalk down one of the busiest roads in Twilight Town that is not considered a high way. I whip out my cell phone and check the time. 8:24 am. _Goddammit!_ There was no way I was going to get to school on time. 6 minutes? Yeah, that's not happening.

I slow down, my conviction ringing through me and realizing I was than likely going to receive detention for this, but what was the point of being exhausted _and_ late? Walking down the street, I let my mind wander to other things. Cloud was probably at work right now, dealing with tricky, angry fiends that tend to roam the outskirts of Twilight Town. They usually don't cause that much trouble, but Cloud's job was to make sure they stay in line. Still, they get a lot of calls about random fiends showing up here and there and wreaking havoc on poor, unsuspecting townspeople. It's funny to hear his complaining about them. Honestly, the amount of stupidity one person can exhibit is extraordinary. One woman actually tried _petting_ one once.

Oh, the struggle competition is coming up soon. I promised to enter that with Hayner. Struggle is pretty much free style fencing; hit however you want, but just try to avoid killing them. We used the same blades, the same safety regulations, just without all of the stuffy, uptight stipulations. Run completely by street kids, sometimes you could make a little profit from it.

I wonder when Olette and Pence-

A bright light was suddenly making my shadow in front of me grow longer. This seemed bizarre, so I turn around to find the source of this strange light. Two bright, gleaming headlights are glaring at me, fast approaching, and it was only then that I finally hear the horn blaring in the back ground. The international sign for "What the fuck are you doing?!" What the fuck _am _I doing? Why can't I move? I know this car is coming for me and It can't stop at the speed it's going. If I don't move, I'm dead.

Dead.

_Move!_

And I did.

But not under my own volition. A force had hurled itself in to my right side, knocking me out of traffic and back on to the grass separating the sidewalk and the street. I hadn't realized how far I had wandered in to the middle of the road in my pensive stupor. The world seemed to spin sideways and I find myself laying on the grass, a tall, red headed stranger sprawled out on top of me, pinning me down with his weight. The wind was completely knocked out of me, my head still spinning from the sudden movement and I felt like a boulder had been hurled at my side. I look over to my left and see a wild mane of red hair resting in the crook of my neck. It felt...strangely comfortable.

His head was lifting from its resting place right next to mine and the first thing I see is green. Bright, emerald green rimmed in deep, dark black. My vision expands to take in two black, upside down triangles that almost resemble tear drops under both of his extraordinarily green eyes. That green...It was almost unnatural.

I know what position he's in, but I don't feel awkward about it one bit. He's pretty much straddling me, looking down at me, an unreadable expression in his eyes. Almost as if-

"Ouch!"

I follow his gaze to find him staring down at my X zipper. He sat up fully, leaning away from me but still next to me, examining his bleeding finger. I began to realize what had happened. He cut his finger on my zipper, well that's not surprising. Hell, I've even done it before and not just once.

"God dammit," I hear him mutter.

I sit up and reflexively reach out and grab his hand away from him with both of mine, bringing it closer for my inspection. Without thinking, I stick his finger in my mouth and put my tongue to the cut, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. I look up from what I'm doing to find him staring at me, a bizarre look in his eyes, one that almost seems like nostalgia, glimmering in those impossibly green eyes.

_What the _fuck _am I doing?!_

I let go of his hand and he reflexively pulled it away from me.

Oh god, this is so awkward. I just put a complete stranger's bleeding finger in to my mouth. He probably thinks I'm some complete freak! Oh god, what am I going to say to-

"Hey!"

That wasn't the guy sitting in front of me...

"Hey, kid!" I look up to see a man getting out of his car and it's then that I realize it's the same car that was seconds away from plowing me down at about 50 miles an hour. He has shoulder length brown hair and a scar stretching across the middle of his face, his blue eyes filled with concern. "Are you alright? I'm sorry, I couldn't see you, it was at the top of a hill and...my god, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

I look up at him, the words not fully registering in my mind, and back down at the red head who was sitting in front of me, never taking those green eyes off of me.

"Kid?"

I look back up at the strange looking man and nod. "Yeah," I tell him, "I'm fine."

"Nothing broken," He asks, "sprained? Scraped? Bruised? Got a rash?"

I can tell he's joking, but the heat still spreads to my cheeks. I shake my head and look at the stranger sitting in front of me, "No, nothing's broken, but I'll probably get a bruise from this heavy rock."

His short, bright red eyebrows raise as he says, "I saved you from being splattered across a busy road and you're complaining about a couple of bruises? God, kids these days..."

I put my hands up in surrender, a smile starting to creep its way on to my face as I say, "Hey, hey, was joking. I'm grateful, alright?"

"You better be," He mutters, glaring up at me through his long, black eyelashes, but I can see the smile tugging at his thin lips and pulling at the corners of his eyes, a strange light shining in those green depths.

Suddenly, the red head pulls himself to his feet, offering up his hand to me and I graciously take it, hoisting myself up as well. I pull out my cell phone and check the time-8:34 am-god dammit. Opening it, I look over at the strange brunette man, "I should probably call a parent, right?"

"Yeah," he replies, "and take you to the hospital, make sure everything checks out."

Nodding, I enter in my home phone number and wait for Aerith to pick up. She never does. Must be at work already, so I hang up and try Cloud's cell. He picks up.

"Roxas," he asks, worry already coloring his tone, "shouldn't you be in school right now? What are you doing calling me? You better not be ditching or you're in a shit load of trouble."

"Hey, Cloud," I cut through his consistent accusations, "how about you let me explain everything before you start thinking I'm calling you from jail."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a second before he finally shouts, "Oh my god, what the hell did you do?! Just tell me you didn't kill me, good god, please tell me you didn't kill a man! Robbery I could probably get you out of, being in soldier and everything, but murder is hard to write off, and-"

"I said _before_ you assume that," I exclaim, shaking my head at him even though he can't see me. He's always been a spastic kind of guy, assuming the worst of people and every situation he's in. I don't blame him though, considering what he's been through, his Co-workers pretty much abandoning him after they found out he was gay...all but one. Zack. Whoa, back on track, no time for a life story here, almost got killed. "I was almost in a car accident but I'm not hurt, everything's okay, the guy's car isn't totaled, no one died-"

"Where are you?"

"On Snelling over by the grocery store, about 10 minutes away from sch-"

"I'll be there in 10, don't move." And with that, he hangs up on me.

Closing my phone, I look back at the brunette man, "He says he'll be here in 10 minutes."

With that, he goes back over to his car and begins to pull it more over to the side of the road, not leaving in the middle of the lane for traffic to gawk at. Looking back at the red headed man, I find him not where I left him. He's walking away.

"Hey," I call out to him, running to catch up to him, putting my hand on his shoulder, "don't just leave like that-"

He whips around, his face set in a hard mask, shocking me and I draw my hand back from him, almost as If I had been shocked. He looks as me for a prolonged moment before he turns his back to me again. Suddenly out of my shocked stupor, I put my hand on his shoulder again to stop him from walking away. What's up with this guy?

"I shouldn't be here," he mutters, his voice weaving a black web of smoke around my brain, making me feel hazy. It was...surreal and beautiful. Too beautiful for any man's voice... "Let me go."

My hand still lingers.

His hand, it feels like it's on fire, covers mine and, turning around to face me, lowers it to my side. His eyes...so green...

"Be more careful next time, okay," he asks, an almost sad smile on his lips, "at least, do it for my sake."

With that, he places his hands on my shoulders, looking me up and down, until he moves them to my cheeks, placing them on either side of my face, looking deep in to my eyes for a long moment. Eventually, his fingers trail down my face, my eyes closing, taking in the feeling until they drop away from me. I can feel his breath on my ear as he whispers to me, "Please, be safe Roxas."

How does he know my name?!

I wrench my eyes open only to find that I can't find him. I turn around, frantically looking over my shoulders, waiting to find those emerald eyes staring at me with that unimaginable expression of pride and...something else, but he's gone. He's really gone.

Who was he?

* * *

_Took me FOREVER to figure out how to incorporate the cutting of the finger thing. turned out though. _

_Even Go buttons need sum luvin! 3_


	3. Cloud Likes the Weirdest People

_Yes! I had no idea how this chapter was going to turn out, but i love it! Cloud is such a teenage girl at heart. I love how Roxas's character is coming along, but if you have suggestions, please feel free to submit them. _

_**Disclaimer:** Look it up._

_Please read, relax and enjoy!_

* * *

So, lone and behold, Cloud arrives 10 minutes later, on the dot, a confused yet serious expression mixed with worry and...anger on his face as he pulls over his car to the side of the road where the brunette stranger and I were sitting and talking. His name is Leon, he lives not too far from our house actually, and he's currently between jobs; about to leave his boring office job to work for Soldier. He's living with his friend Yuffie in a small apartment right now, but he's hoping to get a place of his own soon.

So anyway, Cloud pulls over to the side of the road and, upon seeing me sitting on the curb talking with this total stranger his face sets in to a hard mask of disappointment and fear, one I'd seen many times before. As he begins to walk over to us Leon stands up straight, locking eyes with my brother, a determined yet apologetic expression on his face. When he finally approaches Cloud has only one thing on my mind; chewing me out.

"What in the _hell_ were you _thinking_, Roxas," He shouts at me, shaking his head, "you could've been _killed_! Do you have any idea what that would've done to Aerith? Do you know how much she loves you? She raised you as her child, it would _kill_ her inside! You're my only brother, my only family left, you have people who care so much about you, don't be so careless!"

I sat there and took it. After all, we _was_ right. I really should stop being a completely empty-headed moron, but he really needs to take that stick out of his ass. It wouldn't hurt.

"Uhm, excuse me," Leon finally spoke up once Cloud was done with his "brotherly rant of love"-that's what Aerith called it-extends his hand out to my brother who, bewildered, takes it. "I was the one who almost accidentally mowed down your...brother?"

"Oh, yes, I'm terribly sorry about this," Cloud finally comes to his senses and realizes who this man was. Not a random stranger just wanting to hold your hand, bro. "I really hope nothing happened to your car, we'd be willing to pay any damages done, trade insurance information if you need it. I know a guy that could actually touch up your car for a pretty nice deal, of course, we'd pay for everything-"

Leon chuckles softly and puts his hand up to stop Cloud from continuing, "It's okay, no harm done, everything is completely undamaged, except for maybe my heart. Roxas, however, was kind of thrown across the street and I think it would be wise to take him to a doctor, make sure nothing's broken. I'd be willing to pay any doctor bills-"

"No, no, this is entirely Roxas's fault, he's a spacey little child," Cloud says, smiling faintly.

"Hey," I shout, "I resent that! However true it may be..."

They laugh a bit at my expense before they finally introduce themselves to each other. "My name is Leon Heart."

"Cloud Strife," my brother replies, something seeming to click in this moment, both of them staring at each other intently, probably trying to read each other. It was an entirely awkward moment that lasted way to long with them just standing there in utter silence. I finally decide to break in.

"Uh, hey, Cloud," I call out, his gaze shifting to me slightly, seeming a bit...dazed? "I'm perfectly fine, Leon is perfectly fine, I didn't stain his car or hands with my unworthy blood and the man really didn't hurt me that much when he knocked me down, so I should probably just-"

"You got knocked down," Cloud asks, confusion passing over his face.

"Yeah, some guy knocked me out of the way in time," I elaborate for him, "if it weren't for him, I'd probably be some pretty decorative road kill right now."

"Where is he?"

"He...left," I reply, remembering that moment when he seemed to vanish right before me, just telling me to stay safe...for him...how weird.

Cloud walks over to me, offering his hand to pull me up and I graciously take it. "What did he look like? Was he some kind of pick pocket?"

"Cloud, I don't have any money on me," I scowl at him, leave it to my brother to take a good deed and turn it into something illegal. Nevertheless, I begin to describe him, "He had bright red hair, short eyebrows, he was pretty tall and skinny, come to think of it. He had...bright green eyes." So intensely bright...it was so abnormal...

I focus on my brother again and see that he has turned into a statue, eyes widened in shock, though I can't being to fathom why. I poke him, trying to bring him back to his senses. "Forget about him," he finally demands, completely dropping the subject and turning back to Leon once again. "Thank you so much for staying here with him or else he probably would've walked back off to school without mentioning this. I'll take him to the doctor and get him checked out. Sorry if he caused you any problems."

"No, he's a good kid," Leon comments, "but I would feel awful if it turned out anything was wrong with him, so if you don't mind, could I accompany you to the doctors? I'll pay for anything he needs. This is my fault, I wasn't paying enough attention."

"Tch, that's _his_ line," Cloud says, ruffling a hand through my hair. I swat it away and cross my arms, realizing I'm pouting like a 5 year old but I can't help it. "If you really want to, you can come. You don't have anything you need to do?"

"Not really, I was just running some errands for my room mate," Leon explains, shifting his weight to his other foot, "she'll understand."

I watch as Cloud's face falls slightly as he hears this...Is he...does he...no. That'd be too weird.

"Alright, get in the car Roxas," my brother demands, staring me down with a harsh look on his face.

"Cloud, honestly, I'm fine-" I try to pursued him, but he's having none of it. He points to the car and, grimacing, I make my way towards the passenger side, slamming the door behind me and buckling up, sitting there waiting for Cloud to return.

He doesn't.

I look back out through the back windshield and see him still talking with Leon over by the side of the road, nodding at something he was saying, seeming really interested. My god, was my brother hitting on the guy that almost ran me over? Jesus Christ, he can't find a date at Soldier or the night classes he takes, but once his little brother is almost ground into the gravel, he hits it off with the guy behind the wheel. Well, I should've seen this coming. He's a weird guy, leave it to him to find someone he likes in a weird situation.

He begins walking over to the car and I sit forward once again, pretending like I was up to absolutely nothing, definitely _not_ watching him flirt with a random stranger. He opens the door and gets in, closing it behind him and staring the car. With a heavy sigh, he looks behind to check for traffic and pulls back out on to the street. We drive for several minutes in silence, me staring out my window, watching the world go by, Cloud watching the road and occasionally stealing a glance at me. Finally, he sighs once again and begins talking.

"Roxas, I'm sorry I yelled at you," he starts to apologize but i interrupt him.

"Nah, I deserved it," I reply, "I honestly wasn't watching where I was going and kind of just wandered in to the street. It was pretty stupid of me and I'd probably be dead if it weren't for that guy."

"Look, forget about that guy," Cloud states harshly, returning his eyes to the road, a frown slightly creasing his face. He was in one of his pensive moods again. "He was just some stranger who happened to be at the right time at the right place. You were really lucky he was there. Had he stayed I would've thanked him, but the fact is he left and that's that."

"Okay..." This seemed a bit weird, I hadn't really mentioned him that much.

"Really, I am sorry I yelled at you in front of him without knowing the facts first though," He continues his apology, "I was just really worried something had happened to you. You _are_ my only family left, Roxas, and honestly, I wouldn't know what to do without you. I...care about you."

"I know," I reply, trying desperately to end this awkward conversation. Cloud was really bad with expression any sort of emotion besides anger and indifference so it was really bizarre to watch him struggle through telling me he loves me. Those words had come out of his mouth once in my life towards me and that was when I really wiped out on my skateboard and my head hit the ground first. Ended up with a sprained arm and a concussion. Fun day. Hayner's fault for daring me to jump off that wall though...

So, in conclusion, Cloud talking about his emotions equals extraordinarily awkward atmosphere.

"Do I really have to go to the doctor's office," I ask, a forlorn expression on my face, "I'm honestly okay. I don't even think I have a bruise for Christ's sake."

"You don't have any say in the matter," Cloud replies, keeping his eyes on the road, back to his normal older brother mode.

"You just want to hang out with Leon," I mutter, turning my head to stare back out my window, a smile creeping on my face as I wait for the reaction I knew was coming any minute.

"What," he shouts, I can almost _feel_ him turning a bright shade of red, "you think...you thought I was...oh my god! Roxas! Do you have no respect for your older brother? You think I'd just hit on anything that moves? He's a complete stranger! Jesus!"

"Then why are you getting all worked up about it," I reply, turning to him with a grin on my face, "I have the utmost respect for you, brother, which is why I wouldn't think you'd fall for any one. He does seem a lot like you, kind of a good match in my opinion."

He glowers at me for a brief second before returning his eyes to the road to turn in to the parking lot to the doctor's office. "You will not say another _word_ about this, am I clear?"

I laugh lightly, getting out of the car once it was parked and I begin singing "Cloud and Leon sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes mfph!"

He smacks his hand over my mouth while holding me in a head lock with his other arm. I bite his finger and he takes his hand away, but gives me a noogie in return before releasing me. "You are such a pain in the ass, little brother."

"But a correct pain in the ass!"

-- -- -- --

"Well, everything seems to check out," The doctor tells Cloud once he had examined me closely. Turns out I had a bit of skin rubbed off from being thrown to the ground on my hip. Wow, yeah, a skinned hip, that totally requires a trip to the doctor's office, thanks Cloud. "It was very wise of you to bring him here, you never know what could've happened in a car accident, everything goes so fast you don't have time to fully take everything in." Buttering him up.

"Well, we're just glad he's okay," Leon replies, a fake smile spread across his face for a quick bit of reassurance to the doctor.

"Can I _please _go to school now," I ask, fully realizing I was whining. Cloud and Leon had been sitting in the waiting room for a good 20 minutes, they had had more than enough time to get to know each other, now it's time to go their separate ways and see who calls first. Unless Leon's not gay. Ouch, that would hurt.

"Take is easy Roxas," the doctor says, winking at me. God it's creepy when he does that. I nod and smile, waiting for him to return to the complicated maze of the hospital rooms before I turn to glare at Cloud.

"Lets go."

They stand up and we begin to walk out of the building together. Once we were outside by the front doors, they stopped and stared at each other for a brief moment of awkwardness before they shook hands. "It was nice to meet you," Leon says.

"Yeah, you too," Cloud replies, a small smile begging to grow at the corner of his lips.

"Call me some time," Leon comments after they had stopped shaking hands. "We should do something."

"Yeah, of course," Cloud says, "see ya later."

Waving, they go their separate ways. I watch my brother as he visibly deflates, shoulders slumping forward, but an air of excitement hung around him as thick as butter and completely obvious in that small smile on his face that he was letting grow. After we had gotten in to the car I finally ask, "So, did you and Leon hit it off?"

"Yeah, he's a really cool guy," Cloud says absently, not even caring who he's telling this to. "He's planning on trying to join Soldier. We just complained about the stupidity of people the whole time...he's something else."

"A something else you have the phone number of," I comment. He glares at me and socks me lightly in the arm.

"Not a word of this to anyone," he says in a parental manner.

"Not even Aerith? She'd be so happy for you," I throw in.

"I'll tell her eventually, if it goes anywhere" he says, pulling in to the school parking lot, handing me the doctor's note as my excuse for missing the first 2 hours of school. "Now get to class. Your grades slip due to this and you'll have hell to pay."

"Gee thanks, brother, you have a good day too."

With him laughing, I close the door behind me, almost excited for a relaxing day of school compared to all the excitement I had to deal with so early in the morning...who was that guy?

* * *

_That go button has hopes, it has dreams! Are you just gunna stand by and do nothing? A good person would help it out. All it needs is a click._


	4. Worst Day Ever

_This chapter is kind of slow but I had a lot of things about Roxas's daily life I felt the need to explain for some reason or another._

_So sorry for the slight boredom of it all, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!_

_**Disclaimer: **These things always make me depressed._

* * *

"You're late, Roxas," my science teacher stares at me, completely stopping whatever she had been saying to draw the entire class's attention on my poorly timed arrival. I hated it when she did this.

Sighing, I hand her my doctor's note and she rips in from my hand. While she reads it I walk to my desk in the middle of the room. Oh gee, more attention I can attract. Just in case that kid listening to his ipod didn't hear me come in, he'll sure as hell see me when I walk towards him. Just to make sure I have _everyone_ wondering what the fuck was wrong with me. Oh joy.

Before I could even make it five steps, she says to me in a harsh voice, "Where do you think _you're_ going?"

I give her a perplexed look before slowly lifting my arm and pointing to my seat, opening and closing my mouth several times before I finally sum up the words I want to say and force them past my teeth. "Uh, to my...desk?"

"Oh no, you're not," she states, ripping up my doctor's note 4 times before letting it fall carefully from her hand in to the waste bin by her feet, all the while never taking her eyes off of me. What the hell is her problem? "You're going to the hall."

I turn to face her, an exhausted look on my face as I say, "oh, come on! I had a note! I almost got in to a car accident, It's not like I skipped school! You can even call my brother Cloud if you want. Besides, If I were going to skip school there is no way in _hell_ I would come back to _your_ class."

She raises an eyebrow at me before explaining, "We took a quiz in the first half hour, which you were absent for," she says this so accusingly, as if it was _my_ fault for almost getting mauled down by a car. Well...it actually was, but she didn't need to know that. She continues condescendingly to me, "so you are required to seat yourself in the hall for the remaining period of this class as we correct it out loud."

I sigh heavily and fully turn around now, making my way towards the door. As I pass by her once again she whispers to me, "I want to _talk_ to you after class."

God dammit!

I push the door open with more effort than was needed and sunk down against the wall immediately adjacent to the class, trying to hear an answer or two to remember for later. After about 10 minutes of trying to focus I give up and just stare at the classroom door across the hall from me, tracing bizarre patterns into the old wood that weren't really there. I wonder why Cloud had gotten all defensive when I mentioned that guy...does he know him? He is a pretty distinctive looking guy for a suburb of Twilight Town. We weren't a big town by any means, so seeing eccentric looking people out side of downtown was almost unheard of.

Maybe he was just being his paranoid self again, thinking this guy was probably just trying to steal something from me, or kidnap me had Leon not been there. I wouldn't doubt if that crossed his mind.

The bell rings to signal class was over and I rise slowly to my feet, dragging my backpack with me. I wait until the entire class empties out in to the halls and I sneak my way in. With a deep breath, I prepare myself for her evil and walk towards her desk.

"Excuses get you no where in life," She starts off, not even looking up from whatever paper she was writing on.

"I know," I reply, "but I _had _to go to the doctor's after-"

"Roxas, what did I just say," she demands, slapping her pen down on her desk, giving me a leveled glare through the top of her half moon glasses. Her frizzy, brown hair was pinned up in a bun on top of her head like usual, she wore a pencil straight, navy blue skirt that went down to her knees and a blue button-up blouse. All in all, very plain. Her hazel eyes were dull after years of being exposed to everything these "nasty kids" do, in her words.

"Don't make excuses," I reply.

"That was a rhetorical question," she says, turning away from me and opening a draw in her desk to retrieve a piece of paper. While her back was turned, I flipped her off. It gets me no where, but it makes me feel better. She resurfaces with a multiple choice test in hand and shoves it toward me.

I stare wide-eyed at the paper, looking from it to her and back to it. Bewildered, I ask, "I have to get to 4th period-"

"No," she says firmly, "You have to take the test."

"Can't I come in after school and take it," I plead desperately, "I'm really behind on my painting and Miss Yakano is only giving us another 3 days and I don't even have the second-"

"Art is frivolous and useless," she states, "it will get you on the street with no job. Science is all around you and provides very high paying jobs. I'm sure Miss Takano will understand."

Wide-eyed at her response, I deftly take the paper from her hands and sit in the first desk I find. She has the next two hours as Prep period so no one was in the class room. It takes me 15 minutes to finish the quiz but she makes me stay until she corrects it, taking away more time from my working on my painting. I'll just have to take it home, I guess.

"15 out of 16," she says, handing it back to me, not even a smile on her face, absolutely expressionless.

I take the paper from her and bolt out of the class room, sprinting my way across the room and up two flights of stairs until I enter my art class, completely forgetting a late pass in the process. I only have 30 minutes left and I have a serious amount of work to do and a test to take next hour in math. I set up my canvas and find my favorite brush has been stolen by someone else for the day. I settle for one of the shitty brushes that's been way over used and squirt my colors on to the lid of some old ice cream tub, a cup of water in hand.

Sitting down, I begin to work furiously.

"Where were you," Olette asks, carefully painting the contours of a succulent strawberry someone's lips were pressed around, a beautiful array of reds and pinks blending in perfectly with each other.

"The she-devil made me take a fucking test," I say between clenched teeth, "took me twenty minutes and she wouldn't let me come in after school to do it. She said, and I quote, 'Art is useless and will land you on the streets'. What a whore."

"Whoa," Olette says, looking up from her painting to take in my face which, I'm pretty sure, is contorted in almost rage.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I look up to see Miss Yakano's black eyes staring in to me, a worried expression on her face, and I softened under her touch immediately. She had studied meditation in Japan, her home country, for 12 years. As a child and all through her English immersion college. She could make you melt with relaxation with just a poke of her finger or get you extremely focused with a touch of her hand.

"Your painting is a mysterious thing," she says with a thick japanese accent, "being angry will give it conflicting emotions."

I sigh heavily and set my brush down. She's right, I can't work like this, I'll ruin the entire mood I had been working on for the past 2 weeks. With a forlorn look I ask, "Is there any way I can take this home? I'm not going to finish it."

She shakes her head, "I'm sorry, but due to previous attempts of letting kids take home school property, we cannot do that. I can let you work on it for another week. If you focus on it, I will let you skip the sculpting lesson for next week."

"A-are you serious," I ask, sad about the fact that I have to miss sculpting since clay was my second favorite thing to work with-the first being good ol' pencils-but entirely too happy that she was willing to do this for me.

She nods again, a small smile growing on her face, "Of course, Roxas. You have a lot of talent and I would love to see this finished."

With that, she leaves me to do whatever for the rest of the hour-oh boy, 10 whole minutes where everyone's cleaning up any way-since I was in no mood to work on this right now. Packing up for the day, I remember my math test and begin to dread the next hour. I had heard from Pence, another one of my 3 best friends, that the test was murder on a piece of paper and all It was missing was a mask.

Olette and I head our separate ways to 5th hour and I take the test. While it is hard, I find I'm pretty well prepared for it except for one question that was, sadly, worth 10 points. I don't understand a word of what he's asking us to do and we have a substitute whose motto is apparently, "figure it out, you can do it!"

With that over and done with, feeling like a completel failure, I struggle to pay attention in French. Uhg, toute la classe est stupide, je ne doit pas essayer trop fort.

The end of the day finally arrives and I head out of French and meet up with Hayner in the language hallway as he walks out of spanish. We walk and talk and I tell him all about my awful experience in the morning; almost getting mauled over by a car, meeting that strange guy, Mrs. Bitch making me take a test, failing the math one...

"Jesus, your day's sucked so far," Hayner comments as we leave the front doors, the beautiful smell of freedom filling my lungs. Olette and Pence are waiting for us by Olette's car in the parking lot. Her being the youngest of us all, she's the only one with a car and a license, so for toting our cheap asses around she has free rang to make fun of us at any point in time.

I sigh heavily, keeping my eyes on my feet, calming myself down by just counting how many steps it takes to get from the front doors to Olette's car. Thirty-four, thrity-five, thirty-ouch!

I slammed directly in to someone, reflexively apologizing and stumbling away from them. Look up to see who I had hit, I find myself face to face with Rai, the stupidest kid I've ever had the displeasure of talking to. He fallows the school's notorious number one bully, Seifer, around school and praises his every step. They are just the worst people to be around and we never see eye to eye. I've never come in to personal contact with Seifer, but Rai? Oh yeah, we've met.

"Look where you're going, tiny," he shouts at me.

"Excuse me," I ask, not having any of his shit after the day i've been through.

"You heard me," he replies, a smile growing on his face. He knows calling me small is my pet peeve. "Why don't you go home and play with your barbies, fag."

He turns around to face his friends again and, extremely pissed off past the point of reason, I rear my foot back and, aiming for his leg, kick him-hard-in the shin. He drops down, a human reflex reaction, and grasp the point of his pain, shouting curses all the while and hopping around a bit. A sadistic smile starts to tug at the corners of my lips. He stops hopping and his eyes focus on me, filled with anger.

"You're dead, kid," he shouts, curling his hand in to a fist and swinging it at my head. With ease I dodge the attack, feeling proud of myself, but a force is suddenly sinking deep in to my stomach. While aiming for my face, at the same time he had used his other hand to punch me in the gut. Well, what a fucking cheater.

The wind is wrenched from my lungs and my head begins to spin as I feel myself fall back to the earth. My head hits the pavement first, making me dizzy and my vision is blotted over with black spots. After a moment or two of trying to breathe, I finally open my eyes to see Rai blocking out the sun above me, grinning like the moron he is, his fist pulled back and ready to strike. "Say goodbye, kid!"

I squeeze my eyes shut and brace myself for the hit to the face I'm expecting...but it never comes. I wait another moment...and then another...but nothing happens. Opening my eyes I find that no one is above me. That's weird. I prop myself up on my elbows to see Rai several feet away from me, standing, his hands over his face and blood trickling down his chin.

"You son of a bitch," he shouts, "you broke my fucking _nose_! Who the fuck are you!?"

I look in the direction he's shouting and find I completely looked past a certain stranger standing over me protectively, hands on his hips, lanky body cocked to one side, wild mane of fire red hair coming down his shoulders in fine spikes.

"Name's Axel," he replies in that smokey voice, "got it memorized, dumbshit?""

"Oh my god," Rai screams in anger, "I'm gunna fucking _kill_ you!"

He lunges for the red headed man, fist pulled back to knock him out of his shoes, but he doges his attack with ease, tripping him at the same time and, in a flash of motion, he had Rai's arm pinned behind his back in the cop hold, on his knees, shouting in pain. "Don't even try," he says, letting Rai go and he falls to his hands and knees on the pavement. Fuu kneels next to him and helps him up. With one last look at us, they leave. I could see the caution in her eyes as clear as day.

For the second time that day, this strange man offers his hand to me and I take it, pulling myself to my feet with him as my anchor.

"Oh my god," Hayner shouts, a grin on his face, "that was epic, man! You totally kicked his ass!"

"Pretty impressive," Pence agrees.

"More like utterly amazing," Olette agrees, crossing her arms and nodding her head, the ultimate sign of approval in her eyes.

He wasn't paying attention to any of their praise, his eyes locked on mine.

"Well," i finally say after a couple of moments had passed by, my friends starting to look at us with curiosity and confusion, wondering why we were just standing there being utterly silent. "Aren't you just a white knight in shining armor."

A grin spread across his face and one of his short eyebrows rose in amusement, "Whatever do you mean?"

"You save me from being beaten senseless by a moron," I explain, "and not 6 hours you push me out of the way of a car intent on making me road kill. What are you, some guardian angel?"

He laughs loudly, but what I had said wasn't that funny...he must be laughing at something else, a glimmer of mischief was shining in his eyes, though that might be a permanent effect. "Not even close," he says, calming down and straightening back up, that smile still on his face.

"Wait, you were in a car accident," Olette asks, raising her eyebrows at me in suspicion, "why didn't we hear about this?"

I turn to them and shrug, "I got back with 20 minutes of 3rd hours left and we have the earliest lunch; after second hour so I couldn't tell everyone. It kind of slipped my mind too after my teacher made me stay after and take that test."

"Did you get hit or something," Hayner asks, his eyes wide.

"No, no," I shake my head, "wandered out in to the middle of the road, but if it weren't for this guy," I point to the red head, "I'd prolly be dead."

"Did the guy, like, do a barrel roll and blow up," Pence asks, excited.

I roll my eyes, "No, his car's perfectly fine too, nothing happened."

"Cuz I saved your sorry ass," the stranger cut in.

I turn back around to face him. "I never really got to thank you for that, so uh...thanks for that."

He laughs lightheartedly and says, "No problem." He extends his hand out to me and I look at it for a moment, perplexed as to what I was supposed to do with it...oh yeah! introductions, I don't even know this guy's name! I put my hand in his and we shake, an official greeting.

"I'm Roxas," I say, the smile on his face growing wider for some reason.

"Name's Axel, better memorize it blondie."

* * *

_I'll bet you didn't know this, but that review button and go button down there? Yeah. They have pancreatic cancer. They don't have much time. Give them sympathy by clicking on them. If you don't, you're a bad person and should be ashamed._

_-shakes head in disappointment-_


	5. Oh God, Kairi is in this Chapter

_I has beta! It's been a long time -she finally replied to my emails and i to hers within the time span of a week- but i has my old beta back!_

_-huggles kawaii kisu- missed ya babe! you should check out her story Marked as well. Very excellent._

_SO! this chapter i struggled with. its a filler chapter and i realize this which is why I wasn't having a lot of fun writing it and it turned out to be a lot shorter than this finished version. I was gunna use school as an excuse-which is a good excuse seeing as how i have on average 2 hours of homework a night and am exhausted afterwards-but I've realized im just lazy. Meh, who isnt!_

_so on that note, please enjoy this chapter anyway. BAAAAD things are going to happen in the next two chapters. you guys get to see the plot i've been planning since chapter 1! -has already written chapters 7-12- too bad they got deleted -EXTREME SAD FACE- Yeah. Read, relax and enjoy._

_**Disclaimer**: The site is called Fan Fiction. If i'm sued then the owners of KH are idiots._

* * *

"Where do you go to school," Hayner asks, popping up between us, intrusive as ever, a curious grin upon his face. "What's your last name? You related to anyone here? Do you go to our school?"

"How old are you," Pence butts in, getting closer now as well, examining Axel with a hand on his chin, set in deep thought, "you don't look like a high school student, do you even go to a school? A bit suspicious that you would randomly pop up to beat the shit out of a kid just for Roxas if you don't even go to our high school...seems a bit stalker-ish, don't ya think Hayner?"

"For sure," he replies, looking Axel over like a science experiment, carefully prodding in to his stomach or back now again to be swatted away by a very irritated red head. "Especially if they've really only had personal contact for 15 minutes, which even seems a bit sketchy..."

Axel seemed to become a bit uncomfortable at all of these questions, tensing up and leaning away from the ever approaching face of Hayner and the seriously disturbing gaze of Pence. They pretty much cross-examined him as if he were not my savior moments ago and earlier today on a fateful road, but more like my killer in disguise.

"Are you-"

"Guys," Olette says sternly, all eyes falling on her. Her arms were crossed, brow drawn together in disappointment, a frown creasing her face, stance wide, almost as if she were ready for an attack of some sort. Instead she says, "Stop pestering him so much, Jesus, you'd think he just bombed the school." She turns to Axel now, a sweet expression on her face, a total one-eighty from her previous demeanor, like the evil side of her had never existed. Her is voice considerably softer as she says, "Sorry they were bothering you. My name's Olette, it's nice to meet you."

"Hayner," my ridiculous friend pipes in.

"Pence," he adds, feeling sort of left out.

Axel stands there, watching them as they being to bicker about Olette treating them like children and Olette reminding them that they deserve it. The look on his face was...bizarre to say the least. He was looking at them as if they existed, knew they were important people at this moment, but like he knew that in the future they wouldn't be; he was looking at them as if they already didn't matter, as if he already had memories of them he didn't care about...it was so strange. Like he was completely looking their their entire existence on this earth. It gives me an uneasy feeling...he knows something I don't...

"Anyway, Axel," Olette says, cutting of Hayner and Pence from arguing with her further, "how long have you known Roxas?"

"As in time we've spent together," he asks, a knowing smirk on his face, one short eyebrow raised, "or the amount of time I've known he's alive?"

"Uhm, time spent together," she replies, looking utterly baffled.

"No, time you've known he's alive," Pence says, "because that's how long you've actually known about him, right?"

"You've known about Fuu, Rai, and Seifer your whole life, would you say you actually know anything about them," Hayner asks, turning to Pence with an arrogant smirk on his face. "Since you've never really talked to them before, how can you say you know them?"

"That's not the same thing, I hate those guys," Pence explains, crossing his arms over his chest. Classic Pence move.

"It's the exact same thing," Olette adds, "knowing someone and knowing about them, weather you've determined to hate them or not is completely irrelevant to how long you've known them or known about them."

"I...guess," Pence submits, not really understanding what they were talking about anymore, but realizing that Hayner had Olette on his side, it was an automatic loose for anyone in that situation. They turn back to Axel now, who was completely bored with their conversation but amusing himself slightly every now and then with some sort of secret their words occasionally provoked.

"So time spent together," Olette says.

"In total, about 15 minutes," he replies, smile growing wider now.

Concern covering her face, she throws me a look that says, "Who is this guy?" I wish I could answer that question. Truth was, I knew pretty much the same amount about Axel that she did. She turns back to Axel now and says, "So how did you know he went to this school if you've only known him for such a short period of time? Sounds kind of...weird I guess. Unless he told you where he went to school...which would also be weird..."

"You think I'm some sort of stalker," Axel says. This was not a question. "Actually, I'm here to pick up my little sister from this school. She's a senior, red-ish brown hair, blue eyes, her name is Kairi."

"Oh, Kairi Nakashi," Hayner pipes in, turning his attention to Axel and looking him up and down, trying to find any semblance of genetic similarities between the two. "You both do have red hair..."

Axel shakes his head slightly and says, "Step-sister." He then turns to me, completely bored with the conversation he was having with the three, eyes utterly dull. That is, until he talks to me again. He instantly brightens up, a smile on his face. "So, Roxas, judging from what I've learned this morning about your walking to and from school and through both of the previous instances we've been forced to meet, I'm going to go ahead and assume that you can't keep your tiny little ass out of trouble for more than five minutes."

I give him my worst glare possible, crossing my arms over my chest and furrowing my eyebrows together in utter contempt...but I could still feel a smile trying to work its way to my lips. I begrudgingly pressed it back. "You are an asshole," I state.

"Well, duh," he replies, grinning at me. "I think it may actually be beneficial to your health though if I walked you home."

Just then, this Kairi girl he had been talking about comes skipping along up to him, wearing a skimpy little pink dress with a zipper up the front and that's about it. Save for shoes. Pink clothes with red hair? What the hell is she thinking? And she looks like such a slut, her boobs were nearly popping out of that thing, if you could even call those mounds of a, almost b-cup flesh pressed tightly together boobs. Getting a good look at her though, I realize she does look pretty familiar.

"Axie, baby," she calls out, running up to him and throwing her arms around his neck and pressing herself quickly to him before immediately pulling away, a pretty sibling-like hug. Turning her head, she notices the three of us standing there, watching her with mixed expressions of awe and disgust. She puts on a perky smile and asks, "Who are your friends?"

Motioning to me, Axel states, "This is Roxas."

With just that her blue eyes go incredibly wide, slowly turning her head from me and back to Axel, looking at him with an expression of disbelief and amazement. She then looks back at me and I can feel her literally sizing me up with her eyes. It was awkward to say the least.

"The Roxas," she asks, still looking at me.

"The very one," Axel replies. He motions over to Hayner, Pence and Olette and informs her in a disinterested tone, "and his friends."

Her gaze travels to them quickly but seems not to care either. That same, bizarre look passes through her eyes when she sees my friends though. The same look Axel had in his. As if they were already dead. She knew the same something I didn't...

Acting as if this bizarre moment had never happened, she turns to her step-brother again, a sheepish look on her face, and says, "I forgot, but I promised that I would take Selphie to the mall today, so could I possibly have the car? Pretty please? I'll make it up to you!"

Axel rolls his eyes and drops the keys in to her outstretched palms. She clutches them tightly, a look of utter glee coming on to her face. She squeals in a pitch that no human being should be able to make and throws her arms around him once again, pressing a kiss to his cheek. She pulls back and shouts, "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou THANK YOU!"

With that, she runs off again, not even paying any more mind to the four of us standing by and watching this completely moronic girl run off with the keys to a two thousand pound death machine in her hands... I feel bad for whatever traffic she encounters.

"So Roxas, wanna take me up on that walking you home offer," Axel asks with his trademark smirk I was beginning to come to know well.

"Oooh, that's so cute," Hayner coos in a girly voice, clasping his hands together and batting his eyelashes, "he wants to walk you home! Maybe he'll pin you and you'll go steady!"

I smack him upside the head with absolutely no mercy, reveling in the way he cries out in pain. Without further reaction to his comment, I turn to Axel and shrug my shoulders, saying, "Why not." To the others I say, "See you guys tomorrow."

They each exchange glances that I'm pretty sure they assumed I wouldn't catch, but I did. They're all wary of my new...exotic looking acquaintance, as they very well should be. Hell, even I'm a bit cautious about him. It is a little bizarre that he would randomly show up at the perfect time to push me out of traffic or to stop Rai from kicking the living shit out of me, but he was here to pick up Kairi...still. They are my best friends and they have every right to be concerned about any new and unfriendly people I meet. They should give him a break though; he's saved my pathetic ass, and I practically owe him my life. No guy that nice could be a bad guy, right?

They make their way towards Olette's car, leaving me in the quickly emptying parking lot standing face to face with Axel, trying to figure out exactly which color of green they might be on the color spectrum and he was staring back at me with the same level of intensity.

After several prolonged moments of this-not exactly sure how much time had passed-I look around only to see that there were only a few cars left in the lot, meaning every kid was already on their way home. I face Axel again say, "Well, It's about a twenty minute walk, wanna get going?"

Stretching out his arm like a 19th century gentleman ready to court me, he gives me that crooked smirk again and something tugs in my chest. Eyes sparkling, he says, "Shall we?"

I roll my eyes and merely reply, "Keep that up and you're walking home alone."

* * *

_It's the tickle me Go button! Press the button and it falls over laughing! you'll be more mentally scarred for life than whatever damages tickle me elmo has already cost you! so go ahead! why not ruin what ever is left of your sanity! by Tickle-me-Go-button now! _

_-Runswithskizorsisinnowayresponsibleforanyphysicaloremtionalharmthatmaycometothosewhouseticklemegobutton. Side effects include death.-_

_So ask your doctor if tickle-me-go-button is right for you! And take it from me, dont be an idiot and actually ask your doctor, just press the damn button and review! =D_

_-Everyone reading this is prolly like ". wtf?"-_


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